# Development trajectory of humanistic care and occupational calling in nursing students during internship: a multi-center longitudinal study

## TL;DR

This study tracks how nursing students' humanistic care and sense of calling to their profession develop during internships, finding they both improve over time and influence each other.

## Contribution

The paper provides empirical evidence of a bidirectional relationship between humanistic care and occupational calling in nursing students during internships.

## Key findings

- Humanistic care and occupational calling in nursing students increased over the internship period.
- Humanistic care at earlier stages predicted later occupational calling, and vice versa.
- Initial levels and growth rates of humanistic care positively influenced the development of occupational calling.

## Abstract

To explore the development trajectory of humanistic care and occupational calling of college nursing students and the predictive relationship between them, so as to provide a theoretical basis for improving the occupational calling of nursing students.

From April 1, 2023 to May 30, 2024, a total of 366 nursing students from 10 colleges and universities in China were selected as the research objects in a longitudinal survey. T1: the early stage of internship (1 to 2 months of internship), T2: the middle stage of internship (4 to 5 months of internship), T3: At the end of internship (8 to 10 months of internship), the humanistic care and occupational calling of nursing students were tracked and investigated, and the cross-lag model and latent growth model were used for data analysis.

342 valid questionnaires were collected (effective recovery rate 93.44%). The cross-lag model showed that: The level of humanistic care at the previous time node significantly positively predicted the occupational calling at the next node (β = 0.431, p < 0.01, β = 0.408, p < 0.001), and the occupational calling at the previous time node on average significantly positively predicted the humanistic care at the next node (β = 0.426, p < 0.001, β = 0.414, p < 0.001). The latent variable growth model showed that the humanistic care of college nursing students in the internship stage showed an upward trend (S = 1.025, p < 0.001), and the occupational calling showed an upward trend (S = 1.155, p < 0.001). At the initial level, humanistic care could predict occupational calling (β = 0.458, p = 0.002), and both the initial level (β = 0.417, p = 0.008) and the development speed (β = 0.439, p < 0.001) of humanistic care could positively predict the development speed of occupational calling. The initial level of occupational calling could positively predict the development speed of occupational calling (β = 0.297, p = 0.020).

Humanistic care and occupational calling of nursing students are on the rise. College teachers and clinical teachers should pay attention to the evaluation of humanistic care of nursing students, and rationally use the interaction between humanistic care and occupational calling, which has a positive effect on improving nursing students’ occupational calling.